Surfing Association Of Trinidad & Tobago (SATT) Crowns its 2012 National Surf Champions

Saturday 28th July 2012. The Surfing Association of Trinidad & Tobago (S.A.T.T.) held its National Surf Championships at Roughside, Balandra. The event was blessed with brilliant sunshine, a good spectator turnout and nice 2-3 foot (1.5 meter) swells that allowed over 68 competitors in seven (7) divisions compete against each other and the waves for National titles. The next generation of local surfers participated in the Under 12 division in the punchy 2-3 foot (1.5 meter) peaks at the main event site. Daniel Lewis was the day’s standout in this division who, for his work, was rewarded with a first place in the event. One of the most exciting things that can happen at a surfing contest is the debut of the new unknown talent whose performance takes spectators by surprise. And this is what the Under 12s did.

The stoked and enthusiastic pre teens were give a platform to have fun, make friends and learn. It was the first time in a National Surf Championships that the “Groms” were introduced to competition formats and, of course, trophies and now entitles them to bragging rights for a year. This years Under 12 Division winners are:   1 - Daniel 'Chucky' Lewis 2 - Ian Forbes 3 - Lily Stauble 4 - Ryan Abdullah

Longboard Division Sherrard Spiers won the Longboard division closely followed by Che Lovelace, Bruce Knaggs, and Christopher Dennis. Spiers also triumphed in the Grand Master division. This years Division winners are: 1 - Sherrard Spiers 2 - Che Lovelace 3 - Bruce Knaggs 4 - Chris Dennis Grand Masters Division Veteran local surfers also participated in the Grand Masters (Over 45) Division (a.k.a. the “Same Age As My Dad” Division). According to Spiers, “for most of us ‘grey haired surfers’, the thrill of riding a wave is just as sweet today as it was in years past”. This year’s winners are: 1 - Sherrard Spiers 2 - Andrew Cabral 3 - Jonathan Torry 4 - Stuart Abraham

Women’s Division In the challenging two-to-three foot (1.5 meter) waves, our island’s best female surfers battled head-to-head for the Women’s prize. Pushed by the younger girls, Jordan Van Reeken and Lily Stauble, Kath-Ann Smith snared the best wave of the heat and tore it apart with some impressive turns and won the heat. This years Division winners are: 1 - Kathy-Ann Smith 2 - Jordan Van Reeken 3 - Lily Stauble 4 - Tonya Sun Kow

Masters Division Che Lovelace defending champion in the Masters Division took home his second consecutive title. Lovelace was pushed hard by second place surfer, Andrew Awai, but held on to win another national title. Third was Kendall Francis (of Balandra) with Sherrard Spiers taking the fourth slot.
 U18 Boys Trinidad & Tobago's next generation of surfing stars also contested for the 2012 National Junior Surfing Titles in the 2-3ft swell. Dario Jordan, 18, won consecutively all of his heats to come out the 2012 Junior Champion. Dario was the most consistent throughout the competition, regularly posting scores in the good range despite the complicated conditions.

This years Division winners are: 1 - Dario Jordan 2 - Jyiell Lewis 3 - Elton John 4 - Terry Lewis Open Men’s Division In the Open Men’s Division, the main event of the Surfing Association’s National Championships, the defending National champion, Che Lovelace, was up against Christopher Dennis, Dario Jordan and Jesse Jarvis. The lead changed hands on a number of occasions in the final heat. Then as the heat wound down Christopher Dennis caught a beautiful wave that saw him getting barreled followed by a high scoring top turn that catapulted him into the lead. He then followed it up with another good score to finish on top. Second was Che Lovelace, third Dario Jordan and fourth was Jesse Jarvis. This years Division winners are: 1 - Christopher Dennis 2 - Che Lovelace 3 - Dario Jordan 4 - Jesse Jarvis A “special thanks” must go to the following: RedBull, Power Up Rental Equipment Limited, Rene Ortiz and team, Shaun Ramberan, Volunteers, Competitors, Spectators, Parents and the SATT Management Team.

TDC International Surf Festival 2012 a Huge Success!

TDC International Surf Festival 2012 a Huge Success! The Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Development Company (TDC) International Surf Festival 2012 (ISF12) was blessed with a weekend of excellent waves, beautiful weather, great entertainment, and most importantly world class performance surfing. The Surfing Association of Trinidad and Tobago hosted the event and welcomed surfers and officials from Australia, Barbados, Jamaica, United States, and Venezuela. The visitors and locals were greeted by the best surf conditions the event has experienced in its 3-year history, with waves in the 5 to 7 foot range. These surf conditions provided the perfect platform for the pro surfers to express themselves with both high-flying aerial maneuvers and traditional power surfing, much to the amazement of the large crowd of spectators on hand. Last years Open Men’s Champion Francisco Bellorin of Venezuela, who was regarded the man to beat in this event, was able to hold onto his title for a second year in a hard fought final heat against Florida’s Jesse Heilman who held onto the lead until the last minute. Bellorin walked away with US$3500 for first place, while Heilman won US$1500 for his performance. Chris Duff of Florida and Rafael Perreira of Venezuela were held =3rd Place and took home US$500 each. Balandra’s Christopher Dennis was the top performing T&T local surfer, reaching the quarterfinal round where Chris Duff narrowly beat him. In the Women’s Pro Division it was the Battle of the Bajan Chelsea’s that stole the show, with Chelsea Roett winning first place and US$250 while Chelsea Tuach took second place and US$150. Local girl Kathy-Ann Smith, aka Toco Slasher, took third place in the Women’s Pro Division, winning US$50. In the Pro Junior (U21) Division, which was stacked with young talent from Barbados, it was Bruce Mackie that took top honors and went home US$600 wealthier. Fellow Barbadian Che Allen, who was the youngest surfer in the division at 11 years old, performed extremely well surfing with maturity well beyond his age and took second place and US$400. Local standout Dario Jordan managed to secure 3rd place and US$250, while Chelsea Tuach of Barbados finished 4th and took home an additional US$100. The Beacon Insurance U16 Division was an opportunity for the up and coming junior surfers to show their stuff. Young Che Allen took first place, followed by Joshua Burke in second. Local boys Josh Galt, Elton John and Jayel Lewis took third, fourth and fifth place respectively. All competitors in this division received Trophies courtesy of Beacon Insurance and prize packages from the Western Atlantic Pro Surf Series. In the final division of the day, the Expression Session gave competitors an opportunity to free surf and show the crowd just how radical they could perform without the pressure of being eliminated from the contest. After 30 minutes of great action it was Joshua Burke of Barbados that won “Best Wave” and US$250, while Rafael Perreira took home US$250 for the “Best Maneuver”. Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Development Company (TDC), Rajiv Shandilya, was on hand for the entire event and presented prizes to the champions in the Open Division. Shandilya took the time to speak to the large crowd on hand and re-affirm the TDC’s commitment to sports tourism in Trinidad and Tobago, and specifically to the Sport of Surfing. The TDC ISF12 is the 3rd sanctioned event of the Western Atlantic Pro Surf Series 2012, the only Pro Surfing Tour in the Eastern US and Caribbean, and the 2nd event of the Caribbean Surfing Championship 2012, which began in Barbados and will be concluded at the final event in Jamaica in July. Surfers at the ISF12 earned valuable points to better their standing in both of these Championships. The International visitors to the TDC ISF12 were exposed to a very unique cultural experience as the surfing was capped off on Saturday with this country’s top Bikini Contest featuring 10 stunning beauties from both T&T and overseas. As the sun set, the streets on Sans Souci came alive with a street party that eventually moved into the community Basketball Court and featured incredible live performances by local legends Orange Sky and Joint Pop. For more information, please follow us on facebook or contact surfingtandt@gmail.com OPEN MEN 1st - Francisco Bellorin(Ven) US$3500 2nd - Jesse Hielman(USA) US$1500 3rd - Chris Duff(USA) US$500, Rafael Perreira(Ven) US$500 Top T&T surfer Chris Dennis lost his Quarter final heat and finished equal 5th and taking home US$300 in prize money U21 Pro Junior 1st - Bruce Mackie(BAR) US$750.00 2nd - Che Allen(BAR) US$400.00 3rd - Dario Jordan(TT) US$250.00 4th - Chelsea Tuach(BAR) US$100 OPEN WOMEN 1st - Chelsea Roett(BAR) US$250.00 2nd - Chelsea Tuach(BAR) US$100.00 3rd - Kathy-Ann Smith(TT) US$50.00 Expression Session Best Wave - Joshua Burke(BAR) US$250.00 Best Move - Rafael Perreira(VEN) US$250.00 U16 Groms 1st - Che Allen(BAR) 2nd - Joshua Burke(BAR) 3rd - Josh Galt(TT) 4th - Elton John(TT) 5th - Jayel Lewis(TT)